In only a few hours, I’ll be shaving off my beard to begin Movember hair-free and facially smooth. In preparation, I’ve spent the weekend binging on candy, good food, great beer and hanging out with mustachioed ladies…

From left to right: Jessi Reynolds and Jim Gibbons (me) as lumberjacks and our friend Jackie Fiske as Charlie Chaplin.

With good times behind me and Movember ahead, it’s time to spend a few last moments with my beard and then take the blade to my face. As they say, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, and you can’t properly fight men’s cancer without shaving a few cheeks. I’ll be shaving two. The ones on my face.